Bloomberg

“It will still take your breath away, making it a mandatory stop in the fall season.”

“But like the worst versions of its namesake beverage, it’s too watered-down to be much fun.”

“Cast with an all-male company, these shows are wonderful.”

“Cast with an all-male company, these shows are wonderful.”

“The sensational Karine Plantadit, dancing to the Ellington masterpiece ‘Black and Tan Fantasy,’ is the high point of the show.”

“Mike Nichols’s devastating production is above all a showcase for this terrific actress.”

“It’s enchanting, especially once it slows down a bit to catch its breath.”

“There’s fire aplenty in Jesse Poleshuck’s visually striking design, but none ignited by the lovers, more ill-matched than star crossed.”

“Those intrigued by this passionately performed niche entertainment shouldn’t dawdle.”

“For half the price of a Broadway ticket and a 3-hour drive to the Berkshires, you can watch a very promising show in its developing stages.”

“That makes it a visual treat, but eye candy takes you only so far.”

“Those who come knowing Midler but not Mengers (who died in 2011) will be disappointed by this weightless valedictory, for there’s no swan, and no song.”

“So electrifying is Fiona Shaw, however, that the performance left me, along with the rest of the audience, struck silent after the final wrenching words were spoken.”

“He and the rest of the cast, as directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, have survived 25 weeks on tour.”

“It’s the most engrossing to date from a writer whose work (‘Take Me Out’ is the best known) I usually find too self-consciously clever to be taken seriously.”

“Like many a Hollywood creation, ‘The Big Knife’ has a come-hither look it can’t quite make good on.”

“Maybe the best bad musical ever.”

“Lane, in his best performance since 'The Producers,' brings considerable heart to Chauncey's ambiguities.”

“Welcome to the deliriously amusing, malevolent, heartwarming, head-spinning world of ‘Matilda: The Musical.’”

“By this time, we’re with Broadway’s newest star all the way.”

“But Sean Mathias’s underpopulated and somewhat epicene staging drains the life from the story.”

“I called this seriously silly play the funniest show in town, yet one with an emotional kick that lifted it to a more rarefied plane.”

“But this meandering hagiography unbecomes the swaggering doyenne who, for a time, outgunned the sharpshooters around her.”

“Ashford lets the show get a little fussy, what with the singing tykes and the ever-primping Mae (a rather one-note Emily Bergl).”

“The voltage is more palpable in Joshua Logan's 1955 film than it is in this earnestly detailed but sexless revival.”

“Like ‘The Great God Pan’ earlier this season, ‘The Other Place’ is yet another ambitious play that’s maddeningly unfinished.”

“More than the scenery is creaky in Bartlett Sher’s good- looking but oddly cast and unengaging production.”

“Even at just 70 intermissionless minutes, 'The Anarchist' is a challenge to sentience.”

“‘Dead Accounts,’ on the other hand, seems phoned in, the kind of TV sitcom Rebeck herself can tear into with delicious spleen.”

“The redoubtable Brian d'Arcy James, Kate Baldwin and John Dossett lead a cast of 22 singing sumptuous melodies by Michael John LaChiusa. They're backed by a 17-piece orchestra, a rare luxury for off-Broadway.”

“The production, as halting and aimless as Mol’s performance, makes clear that director Scott Elliott (who leads the adventurous New Group, which is presenting the show) doesn’t have any more of a clue about what the playwright is getting at than I did.”

“It’s inordinately fun to vote in a low-stakes election for a change.”

“Catherine’s transformation from prey to predator (‘I have been taught by masters,’ she famously spits near the play’s end) shocks and satisfies, which is all you can ask of a matinee play.”

“If only they were enough to make up for this deflating misfire.”

“The result is mostly a flop-sweat inducing affair.”

“Unsurprisingly, Rob Howell’s physical production (with video and projections by Jon Driscoll, illusions by Paul Kieve, lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Bobby Aitken) vastly overwhelm the slim plot.”

“Tasteful to a fault, the play is unlikely to offend anyone, particularly the Association or Johnson, both involved in producing.”

“All her garish shenanigans are eerily rendered in chiaroscuro through the billowing clouds of mist and moody, monumentalist settings in Michael Grandage’s fevered production.”

“‘End of the Rainbow,’ a London hit now transferred to Broadway, is the latest shameless attempt to capitalize on a life whose unhappy conclusion is as storied as the stardom that preceded it.”

“That both of these great stars are somewhat miscast (and Jones was doing battle with some of his lines at a critics’ preview) mattered little to the demonstrative audience (or to me).”

“‘Newsies’ gets syrupy faster than I hoped for and while never less than assured, its efforts to earn applause can come mighty close to pandering.”

“Happily, ‘Once’ remains a rare combination of intelligence, warmth and musicality.”

“It's uncommonly rare to watch a revival and suddenly attune yourself to the sound of weeping around you, the shaking of your hand as you take notes.”

“Harris, still luminous at 84 years old, caps a brilliant career with a deeply felt performance.”

“Hideous to look at and hard on the ears despite star Harry Connick Jr., the Broadway revival of ‘On a Clear Day You Can See Forever’ is dead on arrival.”

“Marin Ireland and Peter Kim are the hapless couple who seem way too smart for this flat-footed silliness.”

“A pop romance about the American nightmare, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ is solidly entertaining.”

“But Higgins also offers some keen observations, highlighted in Trip Cullman’s fine production.”

“Cattrall, an experienced stage actress, is easier to admire than adore as Amanda...until, that is, she starts to bellow like a shrew, which is all too often.”

“Updating the show with mobile phones and references to Donald Trump makes it no less creepy. Jesus (Hunter Parrish) can't sing.”

“Even as skilled a director (and frequent Baitz collaborator) as Joe Mantello can't keep the thing from sinking in implausibility.”

“While its premise may particularly appeal to men of a certain age who fancy women half their age, the laughter was co-ed.”

“We Live Here” is a melodrama of the ‘Oh, dear’ school: Nearly every sentence made me think, “Oh, dear. I don’t believe a word of this.”

“Her cheekbones set off by close-cropped hair, Taylor devours the stage the way Brett devours men.”

“Well, that is who she was, as we learn from a playwright who knows whereof he speaks and from Daly’s triumphant portrayal of her.”

“There are groaners galore in ‘Picture’ -- I hope it’s the only time I’ll ever hear ‘Jerusalem’ rhymed with ‘bamboozle ’em’ -- but I’m going to assume they’re intended.”

“Leavel elevates the enterprise with pitch-perfect singing, acting and bouffant, her Florence blowzy and vulnerable.”

“As played -- no, embodied -- by Mantello with fathomless compassion and dignity (not to mention charm and humor), Ned is impossible to ignore.”

“So go for Kanin’s savvy script and for one truly inspired comic performance.”

“Stiller needs more time to get a purchase on the role. Jennifer Jason Leigh is archly convincing as Bunny, dressed a la Jackie Kennedy, in David Cromer's sensitive x-ray of a production. It's Edie Falco who will steal your heart as Bananas...”

“It’s to Butterworth’s credit that we are left so conflicted by this meeting with a force of nature, in the best play of the season.”

“Nothing unexpected happens in 'Sister Act,' a fairy tale we already know. But it's delivered with exceptional glee and polish.”

“With her eyes constantly darting around as if unsure of her place on the stage, Foster seems uncharacteristically out of sync both physically and vocally with her partners.”

“This weekend is your last chance to attend one of the weirdest, most remarkable performance pieces I’ve ever seen.”

“As for the appealing Radcliffe, he’s eager to please but lacks a certain urgency that makes Finch dangerous and irresistible at the same time.”

“Like several shows this season, ‘Book of Mormon’ is too long and comes close to wearing out its welcome before redeeming itself with a strong second act.”

“In 'Ghetto Klown,' more than in his previous solo Broadway shows, he uses many masks ultimately to reveal a naked self capable of astonishing stupidity, leading to depression and self-medication.”

“A cut above, for bringing tremendous heart to a predictable role, is Tony Sheldon as the touching Bernadette.”

“Mosher hasn't coaxed much more than whining and empty bluster from his cast.”

“Director Daniel Sullivan can’t finesse the play’s contrivances.”

“O’Hare, a master of the double take and neurotic wince, pumps him with humanity.”

“If ‘A Free Man of Color’ is not 24-karat gold, it glitters nonetheless.”

“Add dramatic lighting by Kenneth Posner and jolly wigs, dances and scuffles, and credit Sullivan’s engaging conception of the play.”

“About the kindest thing one can say is: It is at least a harmless kind of idiocy.”

“But the chief culprits are Lane’s scattershot book and Yazbek’s ho-hum songs, not one of them memorable.”

“It’s still smashing, and it’s still shocking.”

“With three great actors -- Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines -- at their apogee, the enchanting revival of ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ is the best theater can be.”

“‘Lombardi’ never quite achieves the greatness of the coach’s briefly invincible team.”

“Four stars (****) for this unmissable jewel.”

“What is sorely lacking is a plot or character development, and certainly affection for the hapless actors which might enlist our empathy.”

“On second viewing, I found the play even more satisfying.”

“The result is a hash that neither honors the original nor justifies spoofing it at such length.”

“It is more than serendipitous when the newcomers surpass their predecessors.”

“Margulies offers no reason to believe that either Ruth or Lisa has ever written a word worth publishing.”

“Problems, like promises, abound. First, adultery seems very nearly to have exhausted its talent to titillate.”

“The amplification to arena volume shoehorned into a mere Broadway theater treats one’s eardrums as percussion instruments.”

“Avoid setting foot in ``Almost Heaven''; it is absolute hell.”

“Fonda fans, of whom I am one, will not be disappointed, though they may be surprised.”

“Billy Elliot' really does have something for everyone, and that something is, gloriously, art.”

“Prebble's writing and the production dreamed up by director Rupert Goold are stunning enough to provide steady wonder, involvement and delight.”

“‘Everyday Rapture’ both is and isn't a show.”

“Denzel Washington is showing us why with a commanding performance in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's 1987 'Fences.'”

“The play suffers from three major ailments: pretentiousness, trickery and triviality.”

“But reality is not the issue here; rather, it is fantasy, music, singing and dancing, and some salty dialogue, as well as flawless production values and performance.”

“Ken Ludwig’s quarter-century old ‘Lend Me a Tenor’ is revived on Broadway with a deft cast including Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia and Jan Maxwell, under the direction of that expert comedian Stanley Tucci. And as before, it entertains.”

“Sheryl Kaller’s direction is savvy enough, as are Jess Goldstein’s costumes. Wilson Chin’s set design contends valiantly with the frequent changes of locale, and the acting is mostly good. Only Adam’s intended charm seems to me undercut by Patrick Breen’s machine-gun delivery and cadaverous looks.”

“Rather than abandon his Broadway aspirations, ‘Wicked’ producer David Stone made the extraordinary decision to send ‘Next to Normal’ out of town to work out its kinks. A well- received run at Washington’s Arena Stage and $4 million later, ‘Next to Normal’ has its Broadway opening with major rewrites and new songs replacing old ones.”

“‘Red’ is a compelling example of how a thinking theater can simultaneously entertain and educate.”